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Experts: Drought May Be Upon Us

Record Low Rain and Snow Fall Could Impact Water Use, Foliage And Flowers

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Updated: 7:56 AM EDT Mar 29, 2012

Experts: Drought May Be Upon Us

Record Low Rain and Snow Fall Could Impact Water Use, Foliage And Flowers

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Updated: 7:56 AM EDT Mar 29, 2012

BOSTON —

The lack of rain has officially put the coastal areas of Massachusetts in a drought, experts said.

The ground is so dry, it's not uncommon for brush fires to pop up. Bob Skilling of the Blue Hills observatory saw this coming. He collects the data and says we are in a moderate drought.

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"I think the water has receded in Houghton's Pond. The sand looks wet," said Skilling. "Since the beginning of the year we've had less than half of normal precipitation and that's 44 percent."

We haven't had much rain or snowpack. Our only nor'easter for the season was back in October. Skilling said the abnormally dry areas stretch from Maine to Massachusetts.

In Massachusetts 90 percent of Massachusetts is abnormally dry in the southeast. Bristol and Plymouth counties have a moderate drought in progress

So far for the year we've had 6 inches of rain, that's half of the normal amount. We've had 24 inches of snowfall at Blue Hills. The average is 60 inches -- almost three times more.

At the observatory, rain is measured the old-fashioned way with a rain stick. March is typically our wettest month, but 90 percent of the March rains came in the first three days. The passing showers this week are hardly a drop in the bucket

Gardners say the soil is never this dry this time of year.

"Under the brush it's completely dry," said Heidi Cost-Gross of the Garden Federation of Massachusetts.

Vegetation is in danger of dying off without rain or irrigation. And vegetation is how the ground holds on to the water.

"Drought kills buds and we could have a great deal of canopy loss," she said.

A bed of stones in Cost-tGross's garden is supposed to create a river into in the rain garden. But not this year.

"We have less than a quarter inch of water today," said Cost-Gross.

And we'll need a good 3-inches of rain in the next week to bust this drought.